I think I've played my PS4 long enough to pass judgement on the controllers. In my opinion, the designers did a terrible job. I'm not sure they even did a "job" to begin with, because the controller is such a weak effort.

1. The new "option" button is a TERRIBLE substitute for start. Now when I want to progress through menus I hit... option? Makes no sense. Plus it's hard to see!

2. Shoulder buttons feel okay, but when you sit it on a couch (to watch a DVD) they tend to depress on their own, leading to some unwanted fast forwarding.

3. The touch pad is worthless.

4. The light in the back is pointless.

5. When I'm watching a movie I use a controller as the remote. But it stays on the whole time which quickly drains the battery.

6. I need a totally new cable to charge this thing? What was wrong with the PS3 cables??

I don't own a PS4 yet (probably for a while since I'm still enjoying all the Wii U titles I bought and the PS4 doesn't have much to offer right now) but my friend brought it over and man... I hate that touch pad. I figured it would be sort of like a screen, but it is hard and I hate the texture of it. I also felt like it was kind of worthless. Why incorporate a touch pad like this? Seems pretty silly. The rest of the controller was all right but didn't play it very long. We went back to Super Mario 3D World after like 10 minutes.

All the new controllers suck incredibly hard. The Wii U's iPad wannabe is dumb and I never liked the 360 controller to begin with, so of course I hate the One's. This might be my Sony bias here, but the PS2 controller got it right in every regard. That's how you do a controller.

I tried one of these controllers out at my local Gamestop, and I share your opinions.

Personally i've never been a big of the Dualshock controller, the PS1's was kind of eh, the PS2's felt too cramped and akward for my tastes, the PS3's was far too light and flimsy, but the PS4's is the worst one by far for all the reasons you mentioned(especially the touchpad, which is an unnecessary and annoying gimmick, and did we really need a "Share" button? If you ask me it's a complete waste of space that could've been used for a "start" button instead).

The Xbox One's controller by comparison felt a lot more comfortable, it took what made the 360 controller great and improved upon it even more. I'm starting to think the original Boomerang controller for the PS3 wasn't such a bad idea after all.

The Xbox One controller is very reminiscent of the original Xbox controller, which by far is still the heftiest piece of controller in gaming history. Don't get me started with the Duke, but even the very first Xbox controller outlast most of the current and previous generation ten fold.

Hopefully I have a better experience with the controller than you have had when I eventually get one. Pat from Two Best Friends Play likes it so much that he uses it on every platform possible - PS4, PS3, PC and (via some weird adapter) even the 360. He basically described it as a tweaked, upgraded version of the 360 controller - which is my personal favorite controller of all time.

EDIT - I should note that I have above-average (although not huge) hands. Playstation controllers always feel like a toy when I first pick them up; the Gamecube controller is much more comfortable, and the 360 controller feels like the streamlined evolution of it.

The Xbox controller's weight and bulkiness is precisely why i don't like it. I have friends who love them, and those friends also have bigger hands. The PS2 controller fits mine perfectly, so I guess that's how that goes.

Well come on nothing beats the Atari Jaguar controller. It was the best one designed. Well my brother has a PS4 and tells me the controller hardly lasts one session before needing a recharge. I have not played with it yet so I cannot say how much I like or dislike it. I think the 360 controller is the pinnacle.

My hands are too big for the PS2 controller and I don't like the button layout very much. I like Microsoft's controllers better because they perfectly fit my hands and are well suited to long play sessions, the PS2's not so much. I remember visiting my cousin and trying out her PS2, I never could get comfortable with that controller no matter what game I was playing, which largely killed any potential desire I had to ever own a PS2.

The recharge aspect also sounds very annoying, that's the main reasons why I still use the original wired controller for the 360(I do have a wireless one, but I almost never use it) that way I don't have to worry about the controller dying on me in the middle of a gaming session and then having to wait for it to recharge(also i'm so used to playing with wired controllers that a wireless just feels very odd to me).